Captain's Comments - Sunderland

22 November 2015

Before each home game, Eagles skipper Mile Jedinak lifts the lid on the mood in the camp and gives an insight into what's he's been up to ahead of matchday in his programme notes. Here he speaks ahead of tomorrow's game against Sunderland.

It was great to be back playing for Australia over the past couple of weeks, having missed our last three qualifiers through injury.

I was thrilled to play my part in the two games against Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh. I was fortunate enough to get on the scoresheet in both games and we got two good results which were what we needed.

We’re now back on top of the group having lost against Jordan in our previous game. We spoke about that defeat on the first day in camp and everyone knew we needed to rectify that, and we showed great determination to make sure we got the job done.

I feel as though my fitness is now at 100% again after those games. I felt I was at that level for our first game but the management took the approach to take me off after an hour to be on the safe side.

It’s always nice to contribute with some goals but more importantly I was pleased to be around the squad again, having not being able to help out for the last few months.

Those two strikes also helped me become Palace’s top international goalscorer which is a nice thing to have to my name. I’ve enjoyed every moment of my time here; my improvement has reflected on my international career and my football has thrived in that time.

I also understand I’m just one cap away from tying the record for the most capped international, but we don’t reconvene for international duty until March so there’s a lot of football to concentrate on between now and then, so when that box is ticked I’ll think about it then.

It’s back to the Premier League now and first up for us is Sunderland. The last time we played them at home wasn’t the best night for us, or for myself personally, but we got a great result when we played them at the Stadium of Light in April.

They’re a team that will be desperate to get something so they’ll come here ready to go and hopefully we’ll be on our game to not only counteract them, but take it to them with a purpose.

Regardless of the win at Liverpool, the boys will be confident because they’re always pretty confident. There are a lot of strong characters in our dressing room and even when it’s low they’re pulling everyone else along.

We’re looking forward to getting back into action and hopefully I’ll be able to play my part as well. There’s a lot of games ahead of us in the coming weeks and the Christmas period is on the horizon too so everyone is going to have to be ready when called upon.

After the two international breaks this season we’ve had a poor result so it’s a must to turn that around in order to keep the momentum going.

You need to keep a bit of consistency for as long as possible, so we have to try to step things up in that respect and getting the right result against Sunderland will help us to do that.

Don't forget the full 88 page matchday programme will be available around the stadium on the day of the match, priced just £3.50, or can be download to your iPad or Android device for just £1.49.